Did we make it? The Numbers of Violence Give a Breath (Yes, Seriously)
In a plot twist that no one on Twitter saw coming, President Claudia Sheinbaum came on stage – this time in Cuernavaca, Morelos – to release a fact that made more than one blink: intentional homicides plummeted by 40% in the last months of the year. We went from a daily average that was scary (86.9) to one that, well, is still scary but less so (52.4). The thing is, according to government accounts, December 2025 was the calmest month (relatively speaking, this is still Mexico) since 2015. It’s something, right?
In her now classic morning space, “The mornings of the people”, the president gave the required speech: what if the close coordination, what if the work with the governors, what if the famous National Security Strategy is finally bearing fruit. Basically, the message was: “yes you can, but don’t worry, there is still work to do.” He recognized the efforts of the Security Cabinet and promised that in 2026 they will put more effort into the four pillars of their plan: preventing young people from turning to crime, consolidating the National Guard, strengthening intelligence and improving coordination with the states. It sounds good in PowerPoint, actually.
The Details That Put the Numbers in Perspective
This is where the heavy part comes in, with graphs and percentages that explain your own reality. Marcela Figueroa Franco, the executive secretary of the National Public Security System, explained that the annual reduction in the average daily murders was 30% between 2024 and 2025. In other words, 2025 is crowned as the year with the fewest homicides in the last decade. But, as in every ranking, there are states that take the gold medal that no one wants: Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Baja California, Sinaloa, State of Mexico, Guerrero and Michoacán accounted for more than half of all cases. A classic.
However, in the table of “best improvements” Zacatecas, Chiapas and Quintana Roo stand out, with reductions that exceed 56%. Even Nuevo León and Guanajuato showed significant declines in specific periods. The curious fact? Morelos, the host of the event, reduced its intentional homicides by 26%. Not bad for the state that usually appears in the red notes.
And then came Omar García Harfuch, the Secretary of Security, with his report of “mission accomplished” type achievements: more than 40 thousand detainees, 21 thousand firearms seized, 318 tons of drugs seized (including an astonishing stock of more than 4 million fentanyl pills) and almost 1,900 laboratories dismantled. In Morelos, local figures were 659 arrests and 459 weapons seized. It sounds like a movie operation, but with fewer explosions and more paperwork.
The jewel in the crown seems to be the National Anti-Extortion Strategy. According to the numbers, they captured 721 extortionists and line 089 received almost 120 thousand calls, preventing thousands of extortions in real time. The moral: if they call you threatening to kill a fictitious family member, you better hang up and report it. It might work.
At the end of the day, the message is clear: the statistics show improvement. Whether it is sustainable, whether it is enough, that is already a topic for another Twitter thread full of divided opinions. The undeniable thing is that, for the first time in a long time, the security report is not an endless list of tragedies.
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